By Ken Swatman
It was Monday morning and I sat at my desk feeling tired and frustrated, trying to decide if it was time for a staff change in a key position. I had been over the issues again and again in my mind,
Did the staff member just not understand his leadership role or ministry expectations, or did he not have the skills necessary to be effective in his ministry position? I knew we weren”t getting what we needed and something had to change, but was firing him the right answer?
As pastors and church leaders, we never want to fire a staff member, but sometimes, like a relative who overstays his welcome, he”s just got to go. Firing a staff member is a difficult, emotional transaction under any circumstance, yet most of us can and will terminate an employee if necessary, and at times it is.
But how do you know when it”s time to get rid of someone? There are, of course, cases where immediate termination is in the best interest of the gospel, the church family, and the church as an organization. Situations that involve sexual, moral, physical, or financial abuse are a few clear examples. At these times the decision to fire tends to be fairly cut-and-dried, but what about the times when a haze rolls in and fogs the line between a good employee and a got-to-go employee?
Perhaps it”s a staff member who doesn”t fit into the team, but fits well enough. He works hard, just not at all the right things. He is reasonably well liked, passably gifted, sufficiently supported, and has satisfactory performance. But is that enough to justify a staff member or position, or is it time to make a change?
As I said, this is a hazy, foggy, gut-wrenching area of church leadership. I know, because I am currently in the middle of it. Your church”s finances, doctrine, polity, geography, history, and future vision will all factor into your decision, but here are a few key questions that need to be addressed before you pull the plug on an employee.
Do you have a clear vision for your church”s ministry?
I know everything we talk about today is vision, but when it comes to dealing with staff positions and ministry expectations, vision is everything. The vision and ministry values of your church can be a great tool in helping you evaluate a staff member.
Can you clearly see where your church has been, where it is now, where it needs to be in the future, and how to reach that destination?
Can you see the unique field God has called you to harvest?
Can you identify and articulate the culture, values, resources, and skills needed to effectively harvest that field?
If your answer to these questions is no, you will always have staff and leadership frustrations as everyone works off of his or her own set of skills and values. Having no real and effective vision for the church and ministry translates into having no real and effective vision for leadership placement and development.
But if you do have a clear vision for your church”s ministry, then you must ask the second evaluation question.
Have you clearly and purposefully communicated the vision to staff and leaders?
Unspoken expectations are always hard to meet. Look over staff job descriptions, evaluations, and ministry materials. Do they accurately reflect the vision for the church? If the vision of the church is to build relationships, and you have a staff person whose job description has largely nonrelational task requirements, then you may have a communication/expectation problem rather than a deficient staff member.
Do you have a clear and reasonable job description for staff positions?
As I worked through the process of evaluation with my staff member, I realized no mortal being with only 168 hours in a week at his disposal could accomplish everything I was expecting. A clear and concise job description and evaluation process is essential to building a successful staff member, and knowing when a not-so-successful staff member needs to go.
I found most of the job descriptions I had developed used vague and misleading language. I used phrases like “administer the program” and “facilitate the leadership.” While these types of phrases sound “leader like,” they don”t really communicate anything concrete. Your definition of administer and facilitate may be very different from those of your staff members.
A good job description must have concrete and measurable definitions and expectations of vague leadership concepts, especially when dealing with staff members who relate better to tasks and lists than ambiguous ideas and concepts. As you evaluate a staff member based upon his job description, you may find the issues you are facing have more to do with clarity and communication than inability and incompetence.
Do I tend to demand leadership””or develop it?
I took some time to evaluate my working relationship with the staff member in question and realized I demanded leadership more than I developed leadership. When I demand leadership, I stand outside of the leadership process and simply provide critical evaluation. When I develop leadership I become part of the process and have the opportunity to interact with the people and systems under my leadership.
As I evaluated, I found myself demanding that my staff member be a good listener, but realized I had never spent the time to evaluate and develop that skill in him. His quick-to-respond, slow-to-hear, fast-paced approach to ministry relationships was a learned response, not a fatal flaw. To demand a preconceived leadership expectation without ever developing, discussing, or encouraging the skills necessary to be successful created a hostile environment and an ineffective ministry relationship.
Having expectations is not the problem; demanding compliance with expectations without communication, development, or evaluation is a problem. This in no way takes away from a staff member”s obligation to perform ministry tasks or meet expectations. It simply is an encouragement and reminder to evaluate your own style of leadership and staff development systems. I”m finding if I develop more, I have to demand less from my staff, and when those times arrive where leadership must be demanded, a well-developed staff will rise to the occasion.
There are times a staff person just isn”t the right fit. Sometimes staff members underperform, and no amount of development and evaluation will get them going again. Churches, ministries, and staff members all have natural life cycles, so change, at some point and time, is inevitable.
But before you pull the plug and fire that staff member, take the time to walk through the process of evaluating your system for developing, communicating, and evaluating expectations and ministry skills. If you do, you will either end up with a convincing argument for why a change needs to be made, or discover new potential to turn a middle-ground staff member into a high achiever.
Ken Swatman is senior pastor with the Oregon City (Oregon) Christian Church. He served as a police and fire chaplain for six years and is certified in crisis intervention and stress management.
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